Magazine thoughts in light of current climate...

[DHart]

While forces conspire to seize the moment and opportunity to assail our firearms rights, I've been thinking a lot about what a prohibition on possession of magazines greater than 10 rounds would result in.

Certainly, guns like the Glock 30 and M&P40 Compact would come rapidly to the fore as supreme choices in defense handguns... as they probably are already in states which limit magazine capacity to 10 rounds.

Many of us hope that if mag limitations to 10 rounds come about, it's merely a limitation on future sales of them rather than a law making the mere possession of them a crime. But would it make any sense to a politician to stop at a ban on sales? There are already so many in possession that stopping sales would have relatively little impact on reducing the use of such mags... it makes sense that the only legislation likely to have an impact on the use of high cap mags would have to be a prohibition of possession... God forbid.

So... a couple of points for discussion...

1) what gun or guns would become your primary choice given a limitation of 10 rounds in a mag? (Mine would probably be my G30, one of Gaston's finest offerings, in my view. And my M&P40C. )

And...

2) your thoughts on how the nation's gun owners would respond to being told that they not only could no longer buy hi-cap mags, but that they would have to give them up or become criminals in possession of such mags? (Freaky idea, I know, given the widespread possession of hi cap mags -and considerable financial investment in them for many of us! - amongst millions of American gun owners.)

[Outrider]

Having experienced the Clinton AWB, I can tell you that limiting mags to ten rounds drove a lot of people to pistols chambered in larger calibers since they were no longer facing a trade-off between caliber and capacity.

If the government demanded people turned in all mags that exceeded ten rounds, it does not take Nostradamus to foresee a lot of non-compliance.

[Alaskapopo]

While forces conspire to seize the moment and opportunity to assail our firearms rights, I've been thinking a lot about what a prohibition on possession of magazines greater than 10 rounds would result in.

Certainly, guns like the Glock 30 and M&P40 Compact would come rapidly to the fore as supreme choices in defense handguns... as they probably are already in states which limit magazine capacity to 10 rounds.

Many of us hope that if mag limitations to 10 rounds come about, it's merely a limitation on future sales of them rather than a law making the mere possession of them a crime. But would it make any sense to a politician to stop at a ban on sales? There are already so many in possession that stopping sales would have relatively little impact on reducing the use of such mags... it makes sense that the only legislation likely to have an impact on the use of high cap mags would have to be a prohibition of possession... God forbid.

So... a couple of points for discussion...

1) what gun or guns would become your primary choice given a limitation of 10 rounds in a mag? (Mine would probably be my G30, one of Gaston's finest offerings, in my view. And my M&P40C. )

And...

2) your thoughts on how the nation's gun owners would respond to being told that they not only could no longer buy hi-cap mags, but that they would have to give them up or become criminals in possession of such mags? (Freaky idea, I know, given the widespread possession of hi cap mags -and considerable financial investment in them for many of us! - amongst millions of American gun owners.)

The sky is not falling. There is no way they will get a ban passed with the current political make up of congress even with the recent shootings.

Pat

[SIGguy229]

I'm not going to sweat it too much...but that doesn't mean I won't make my position known to my representatives, and work with GOA and the like to keep these bad bills from reaching a vote.

IMO, I'd still carry my P229/.40 and P239/.40

[javentre]

If limited to 10 rounds, my choices in firearms would not change.

9mm Glocks and M&Ps ... in all sizes.

[F-Trooper05]

Mine would be the HK45C. With that said, I think my money would be better spent if it were donated to the NRA legislative affairs office.

[Hmac]

"This too shall pass". We are Americans, with the stereotypical American short attention span. Pretty soon, the horror and the outrage will fade from our national consciousness. We'll have to see what the NRA will let Congress have by way of compromise, but I'm guessing that if they let them have anything, it will relate to other methods of keeping guns out of the hands of crazy people.

There won't be any magazine bans, but even if there were, my choice of pistol wouldn't change. I want smaller pistols with smaller mag capacity for concealed carry any way.

[DHart]

I'm guessing that if they let them have anything, it will relate to other methods of keeping guns out of the hands of crazy people.

This is certainly the proper response. It is the crazies and the religious fanatics that bring all this ridiculous reaction against honest, law abiding citizen gun owners. If much better attention is given to intervention when people exhibit the signs that this guys did, such things can much more easily be averted. We all know that if he had a G19 with a ten rnd mag he could have killed as many people anyway.

On a side aspect. The idiot sheriff of Pima county who said this was due to the extremely intense political climate and implied blood was on the hands of Palin and Bachman is actually the one with blood on his hands. He didn't even dispatch a patrol officer to the event in advance of the shooting just to be proactive. Few public events do not have at least one or two officers in attendance "just in case". That sheriff was negligent in his duties by not having one of his officers present to begin with.

[BrianS]

MP45 fullsize would be my choice of gun.

We'll have to see what the NRA will let Congress have by way of compromise...

My guess is nothing, as it should be.

This guy was just thought of as weird by some of the people he went to school with. We start stripping fundamental rights for reasons like that and God help this country.

[djegators]

If all the people who are buying or considering to buy a stockpile of mags right now were to sign up a few people they know as NRA members, there wouldn't even be a discussion. 90+ million lawful gun owners in the US, and only 4 million NRA members. Think of the influence that could be wielded by an NRA 20 million strong. So for those who are about to hit "checkout" on their several hundred dollar mag orders just in case, please consider spending another $35 to sign up a friend for the NRA.